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Re: legitimate rape

What this bozo means was that if a woman was "really, truly" raped, her body would somehow know this was going and magically prevent her from becoming pregnant. Therefore, there should never need to be an abortion, even in the event of rape, because no pregnancy could occur from a "real" rape. His science is completely wrong, of course, but it's caused outrage for a few reasons. One, pairing "legitimate" with "rape" makes it sound like there is such a thing as "legal rape." But let's assume he said "really, truly raped" instead of "legitimately raped." That would imply that every woman who did get pregnant from a rapist most not have been "really" raped - she must have been a willing participant somehow. Both of these ideas are extremely offensive to many people.

I'm not a teacher, but I write for a living. Please don't ask me about 2nd conditionals, but I'm a safe bet for what reads well in (American) English.

Re: legitimate rape

It seems to be used by pro-life campaigners. Their desire not to allow abortion even for rape victims is justified (in their sick minds) by the suggestion that victims of 'legitimate rape' - i.e. what virtually everybody would agree was rape - rarely become pregnant, so there is no need for the law to permit abortion.

How they could come up with an expression like 'legitimate rape' is beyond comprehension.

Re: legitimate rape

It's not the term itself that has caused the outrage, but the implications of what he said. There would be nothing controversial about me saying, "some women falsely reporting rape makes it more difficult for legitimate rape victims to get justice."

The outrage comes from the suggestion that if a woman is raped, it is impossible for her to get pregnant. The implication of that statement is that any woman who gets pregnant and claims she was raped is either lying, or (subconsciously) actually wanted to have sex at the time. I don't think it was anything to do with husbands and wives. It was also ridiculed on the basis that it was scientifically inaccurate, despite this politician being on the US House Committee on Science.

Unfortunately, there are still people in the world who believe that anything other than a woman being dragged into a dark alley by a stranger isn't "proper" rape. Some people, for example, are of the opinion that if a woman invites a man back to her house, that is evidence that she consents to sex, and therefore rape in that situation either isn't possible or isn't as serious. Or that a woman that dressed or acted in a particular way was asking for sex and couldn't have been raped. It's in this area where people can talk about different degrees of rape, and phrases like "legitimate rape" can emerge.

Re: legitimate rape

Originally Posted by 5jj

It seems to be used by pro-life campaigners. Their desire not to allow abortion even for rape victims is justified (in their sick minds) by the suggestion that victims of 'legitimate rape' - i.e. what virtually everybody would agree was rape - rarely become pregnant, so there is no need for the law to permit abortion.

To be honest, I've never understood the willingness for pro-lifers (or anti-choicers, as I prefer to call them) to make an exception for rape victims anyway. Surely if you think abortion is murder, then the circumstances of the creation of the foetus are irrelevant to your opinion on the morality of killing it?

Re: legitimate rape

Could I just remind everybody, including myself, that this is a language forum. Can we all please try to avoid getting into any discussion of the rights or wrongs of pro-life/anti-choice/pro-choice/etc views.